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Crackle of revival slow to ignite general excitement

By SUE CARLTON
Published March 19, 2006

Maybe you know West Tampa, or maybe you haven't seen much of it beyond the restaurants that serve good roast pork, Cuban toast and cafe con leche. For some people, it's probably not even much more than a slice of urban ugly off Interstate 275 as they head east into downtown Tampa.

At dusk, workers are swarming over the three neat little houses like ants, slapping on final coats of shiny white paint, raking, sticking last-minute plants into fresh dirt.

A few hours from now, in the morning, the politicians and the TV cameras and the neighbors will gather. The ribbon will be cut and everyone will talk about the future of West Tampa, at least for a while.

But for now, Isabelita Rivera is just where she's been for decades: at her home around the corner on Walnut Street, surrounded by her family. The grownups relax in the yard while grandchildren romp and climb the Japanese plum tree to get the sweet fruit. The smell of sizzling chicken wafts from her kitchen.

"Big change in West Tampa," says Mrs. Rivera, who wears her hair in a silver-threaded braid down her back. "I like it."

She says this with the same mix of wariness and hope echoed by others who live on these wide brick streets where squat ugly duplexes share space with elegant old bungalows.

Maybe you know West Tampa, or maybe you haven't seen much of it beyond the restaurants that serve good roast pork, Cuban toast and cafe con leche. For some people, it's probably not even much more than a slice of urban ugly off Interstate 275 as they head east into downtown Tampa.

This neighborhood, founded in the 1890s, was home to the thriving cigar industry and the families who worked in the factories. Immigrants from Spain, Cuba and Sicily are part of its rich history. Some of those old brick factories still stand.

Longtime residents say these were mostly family homes. Parents died off, children left. Landlords took over some; others went vacant. Neighbors saw decay, drugs, prostitution. Some streets looked like one endless code violation, though they say the new mayor has clamped down.

Neighbors watched as former Hillsborough Commissioner-turned-urban-developer Ed Turanchik built those three pretty model homes, each with the traditional front porch essential to life in West Tampa. They know about his plans for more than 70 homes at $164,000 to $239,000, affordable compared to the building booms in downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Buyers have to stay at least three years, to discourage investor-flippers who have no intention of spending a night here.

The morning of the ribbon-cutting, Charles Walker is working in the neat lawn of his house across the street. He's 84 and remembers being handed the key to his home on Christmas Eve 1957.

"You got some good-looking houses," he says when Turanchik walks over to say hello. "Put some good people in there."

Squint a little past the chain-link fences, dirt yards and burglar bars and you can see potential: the funky feel of history, the cool old houses to lure artists and urban pioneers who cannot stomach the suburbs. Room for retail hubs on Howard and Armenia avenues. New houses that respect old Tampa.

Workers are tying balloons outside the model homes as Lillie Howard, 72, sits on her tiled front porch nearby. Her view includes a massive old brick umbrella factory with a rusty clock tower. It's cool here on her porch, where she has kept an eye on things for 25 years.

She's been with the neighborhood crime watch nearly that long, seen drug sales so busy it was "like people going into Dillard's."

Like others here, she would like to see new houses that are even more affordable, but these are nice, she says. She likes one of the two-story models, except her arthritis keeps her away from stairs.

She'll says she'll leave West Tampa "when the Lord moves me," and no sooner.

The mayor has arrived and the people gather. Nearby is a church with a sign that says "Miracle Temple."

Maybe that's what it will take to make West Tampa into what it could be, a miracle. Or maybe it's just a good sign.

[Last modified March 19, 2006, 20:39:02]